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Open Jam Guitar Pickin' Night

I had the idea to try to do some sort of an open jam, guitar pickin' night at the taproom and wanted to see if anyone else has done it and has any pointers.

My thoughts were have an open night on Wednesdays. Anyone can drop in and bring there instrument and play together. I wasn't planning on this being an open mic sort of set up where one person goes and when he's done it's the next persons turn. Just thought people could all play together and get to know people to play with. I understand that I can't pay 12 people to come in and play but thought I could offer some free beer.

I have tried this.
It became derailed by the copyright management companies: BMI, SESAC, & ASCAP. Some of the musicians were playing cover songs, these companies demanded rights-usage payments (which are completely within their rights when someone wants to use copyrighted material). Somehow they found out about these events. These fees made the event financially ridiculous to pursue. They are based on type of event, door charge, and occupancy.

It doesn't matter if you charge at the door (fees increase), if it's free to the public, if you are playing CDs or streaming (gotta pay fees), if the sound is turned up on tvs in the public space. All of that content is copyrighted and requires useage fees, to all three such nice they all have different clients.
Any music, programming, etc used in the public space to create an event or ambiance must be paid for.
Keep everyone playing all-original music and you will be fine.
Truly, good luck.

I have tried this.
It became derailed by the copyright management companies: BMI, SESAC, & ASCAP. Some of the musicians were playing cover songs, these companies demanded rights-usage payments (which are completely within their rights when someone wants to use copyrighted material). Somehow they found out about these events. These fees made the event financially ridiculous to pursue. They are based on type of event, door charge, and occupancy.

It doesn't matter if you charge at the door (fees increase), if it's free to the public, if you are playing CDs or streaming (gotta pay fees), if the sound is turned up on tvs in the public space. All of that content is copyrighted and requires useage fees, to all three such nice they all have different clients.
Any music, programming, etc used in the public space to create an event or ambiance must be paid for.
Keep everyone playing all-original music and you will be fine.
Truly, good luck.

Prost!
Dave

Thanks for responding and for all of the good info. I am ready pay ASCAP and BMI for live music that we do, wouldn't this cover it?

We don't sell ANYONES information.

We do open Irish & open Bluegrass/Americana jams every other Weds. This seems to work best if you can come up with a solid core group of at least 3 people (possibly an existing group) that knows a bunch of tunes and can help lead & guide the group and integrate new people. Last week we had 9 players and it was great. Our groups play for beer and is a pretty good draw. We feed beer to the people who play the majority of the night. Fact is, most of the musicians drink very sparingly. You may have to pay the core group of musicians and then just let whomever wants to join in come in and play for free. Most people just want an opportunity to participate and don't need any extra convincing.

We do open Irish & open Bluegrass/Americana jams every other Weds. This seems to work best if you can come up with a solid core group of at least 3 people (possibly an existing group) that knows a bunch of tunes and can help lead & guide the group and integrate new people. Last week we had 9 players and it was great. Our groups play for beer and is a pretty good draw. We feed beer to the people who play the majority of the night. Fact is, most of the musicians drink very sparingly. You may have to pay the core group of musicians and then just let whomever wants to join in come in and play for free. Most people just want an opportunity to participate and don't need any extra convincing.

Awesome. Thanks for all of the info. I figured I could probably find a decent core group and just fill in the rest. My plan was to just pay them in beer but we will see how that goes.

If they contacted you it was because they somehow saw your post.
Admin

I'm with the admin on this one. All of the agency's have people they pay to find people not paying for their services. I'd bet the is a member here that does that. My wife worked with a guy at the Kennedy Space Center that does exactly that. Searches online forums and goes to local bars and restaurants to try and find people who don't pay their fees. Well that's also why he doesn't work there any more. Got caught doing forum searches while at work.

If they contacted you it was because they somehow saw your post.
Admin

These companies most likely use web-sifting algorithms searching for and flagging content related to words like "SESAC, ASCAP, BMI, Live music, local music, open mic night, etc" usually from an organization's social media feeds. They are then able to direct their focus and services to those places who are performing copyrighted material without the licenses in place. When we were first contacted, the only advertising we did for live music was on Facebook. We no longer offer live music.
This isn't Probrewer, this is big data.

We pay our dues to the Powers That Be, and are able to host any kind of music. It's spendy, but the draw of live music is worth it.

Another pub in town tried to get around paying the fees. They had a Tunesmith night that was limited to original music, and it worked well. The biggest problem was the folks who would request cover songs from the artists. I've heard rumors (credible) that these folks can be ringers sent out by the PTB to try and get cover songs played so they can demand fees. Insuring that every tune played is original is hard work, and may be impossible.